E2L - Sentence structure

To communicate effectively in English, good sentence structure is key.

Here are a couple of tips to help you when writing sentences in English:

• Try not to fall into the trap of translating from your native language. Different languages have different sentence structures so this will not work. It is important that you familiarise yourself with the rules of English and try to think in English first when writing. Reading will help with this – the more you read, the more you will subconsciously learn syntax, grammar, style, punctuation and conventions of the English language.
• In addition to reading, watching English movies and TV programmes will help tune your ears to correct sentence structure. The more you listen, the easier it will become to speak and write in the way native speakers do.

This video will explain to you the different types of sentence structure in English, from the simplest possible sentences, to long, complex sentences which contain many different ideas. This is a long video so be sure to watch it in short, manageable chunks.  As you watch, try to write notes so that you can refer to these at a later date.

EXPLORE – English sentence structure Links to an external site.

We have also created a useful guide for you on sentence structure. This summarises the key information in the video above. You can find this guide (Grammar Basics) and other helpful guides in Important Course Resources under the Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar Guide section of the course.